Welcome to the
Waikato
Food Basket
This is a blog about celebrating and showcasing the delicious abundance of the Waikato region.

Eat your Greens
I’ve always loved green salads. My definition of an abundant life includes a garden with an apple tree, a lemon tree – and salad greens and herbs. My absolute essential greens are flat-leaf parsley, curly endive and land cress.
Elder generation
This winter I’ve been dreaming of elderflower champagne. It’s fun, and fizzy, and it reminds me of summer. It’s one of my favourite things.
Elderflowers and elderberries are great for making interesting and delicious beverages that sit at the intersection between drinks and European herbalism.

Elder generation
This winter I’ve been dreaming of elderflower champagne. It’s fun, and fizzy, and it reminds me of summer. Elderflower champagne is sometimes described as “bottled sunlight”. It’s sort of flowery, and sort of aromatic, and something else again. It’s one of my...
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Writing about eating

The casimiroa quest
As regular readers will know, I love strange and unusual fruit. This week I’m in love with casimiroas. Casimiroa edulis, also known as white sapote, is oval and green, about the size and shape of an avocado. It doesn’t look anything special – but the flavour is amazing.
Tomatillo time
Tomatillos are very popular in Mexican cuisine, but they’re not common in New Zealand. So I was happy to find Harvey Till of Vegetills selling tomatillos on Sunday at the farmers’ market.
Organics – a line in the soil?
This post is about organics and the local food economy.
It’s a timely topic because the Organic Products Bill is currently going through Parliament. Submissions are open until 28 May.
If you care about organics and food quality, I suggest you send in a submission.